Our journey south continued through Birmingham. When we woke up in Huntsville, I googled the Birmingham Zoo, mostly out of curiosity. It turns out they have perhaps the best small cat collection I’ve seen outside of Cincinnati. It was also close to a restaurant where we thought would make a good lunch stop. Cheap admission through a reciprocal arrangement with the Cincinnati Zoo sealed the deal.

When we arrived, it was a dreary day–cooler temperatures with a drizzle. Cold for Birmingham, but my family are zoo geeks, tough, and slightly crazy. We decided to check it out anyway.

We were the only guests at the zoo–the only other people we saw were staff. The bald eagles looked at us as if to say “primates be crazy.”

We entered the predator house, and started a conversation with the staff, asking about the cats, their names, and where they came from. They seemed to dig that we knew so much, and, as it was near closing and there was no one else around, they walked us through and answered questions.

The first cat we saw was an ocelot named Toby.

Next was a pallas cat (I was told all the names, but for many, I can’t quite read what I wrote).

Katie is their African wildcat. Wildcats were neat to see for a couple reasons. The African wildcat (felis silvestris libyca) is a subspecies of wildcat (felis silvestris). Another subspecies is felis silvestris catus, better known to me as “Eddy, Luna, and Beso.” Like all members of her species, she viewed humans skeptically, especially ones out on a rainy, drerey day.

What was cool about Katie in particular (aside from her wild good looks) was that she is a clone, produced at the Audobon zoo, to find ways to save endangered species. This is the first time I have (knowingly) seen a clone in person. Even though my morning was spent looking at rocket ships, it was the most SciFi thing I did that day. Katie mated with another clone, and produced a litter of wildcats, who I was told lived up to the wildcat name.

There were two black-footed cats.

Tut was the male.

He watched Mica, the female, walking around.

He’s a handsome cat!

Sand cat Toby seemed eager to see us.

The female, Angsa (but I may have that wrong), just wasn’t feeling sociable.

At 3:30, they do a demonstration of feeding the lions, and how they have been trained behaviors to help facilitate their care. The keepers who do that were walking through, “come on. Let’s go feed the lions.” Though it was rainy and we hadn’t intended to see the lion feeding, we followed our new friends–we were the only guests, and we couldn’t let Aquila and Kwanza down.

Kwanza is a nine-year-old male lion, born on the first day of Kwanza that year.

Back inside, we saw the non-cats such as the mongooses (mongeese?).

We are big red panda fans. They had two adults and two cubs.

We made one last stop, to see the giant otters.

They were huge.

We enjoyed our day at the Birmingham Zoo. In spite of the cold, rainy day, it was a great experience, and it was neat to have an unofficial private tour of their predators. Thank you so much!

Santos, the ocelot cub (“ocelittle”) at the Cincinnati Zoo is about the size of Eddy when I first met him. I have to remind myself that he was only two weeks old, and will sleep a lot more than he plays. I decided to check on him today, at the three-week mark. He was still a sleepily little boy.

Love the chin!

But he did start to wake up a bit. I got to see his eyes!

Clearly, he’s more capable. I got to see him walk around a bit…

And even play with a keeper, and the plush animals in his enclosure.

That tickles!

I was a bit crazy going out to the zoo–the temperature never saw above thirty. I stopped into Night Hunters, in part to warm up. A black footed cat was in plain sight.

And a sand cat fell asleep on top of his hill.

The bobcat looked like he had some news for me…

Miss Caracal was back!

I hadn’t seen her since at least the spring. I don’t know where she was, but I was getting a bit worried. It was really good to see her again!

While humans weren’t fond of the cold day, snow leopards live for it. Renji and Nubo were up front, and happy to have a chat.

Nubo was a bit of a show-off.

Renji maintained her mysterious composure.

While there are plenty of unusual animals in the official collection, there are “wild” animals that pass through. The problems squirrels were causing made news lately. Today, I saw a domesticated cat, probably a stray, on the grounds.

I had mentioned I didn’t get to see puffins too often. My wife pointed out the Cincinnati Zoo had them, we just don’t go in the exhibit that often. I was passing it, it looked warm, so I popped in.

I also got a family picture of all three red pandas!

While cold, it was a good day to see the zoo, and I am glad to see little Santos growing up.

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The Cincinnati Zoo opened up their new “Africa” section while we were on our trip. One of the older parking lots was converted to a large exhibit space, between the rest of the zoo and the Cathryn Hilker Running Yard. Some parts of Africa, such as the flamingos and giraffes, have been there for a while. Other parts, such as the hoofed animals, will be joining next year. This year, we got tawny lions. The first to come out was John.

Yesterday (June 3) was my birthday. My mom had come up, and wanted to see the zoo. It’s such a hardship for me…

The key reason she wanted to go was to see Gladys, an infant gorilla.

Her mother, a first-time mom, wasn’t taking good care of her, so the folks who run the gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP) met. They determined that the Cincinnati Zoo, with a long track record of baby gorillas, would be a great place for her. Right now, she is being raised by a team of human surrogates. They treat her as a gorilla mom would, so they can eventually hand her off to a gorilla mom. They are taking great pains to ensure that she is not overly bonded to humans.

She was sleeping when we first got there. The head of the gorilla department (and on the SSP) gave a talk, and they listened.

Then Gladys decided it was time for climbing practice.

As I said, the keepers in no way see Gladys as a pet. Still, it must be an incredible experience to be part of saving an animal like her. I admire the keepers who take the time to do this, and make a point of doing it right.

This is a Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, who was watching us.

My mom has always liked elephants.

The male is named Sabu. We spent a good while watching him, and talking to a volunteer. He clearly loved this animal.

Dunbar was greeting guests with a keeper. He’s a plated lizard. She said that his ear holes are connected–you can actually see through his head when the light is right.

Lulu, the baby giraffe was out.

She seems big to me…until I look at her parents.

Going with my mom meant I went to parts of the zoo I don’t normally go to. For instance, I don’t often see this clever Sumatran orangutan.

Or Kenneth, the large spotted genet.

It was my birthday, so, of course that meant cats! We went to go see the cheetah run, where serval Jambo showed his jumping ability.

Chance had a great run (and I got artsy with my photography (what do you think?)).

Of course, when running on as even a nice day as we had, it’s important to stay hydrated.

While at the Cheetah Encounter, we saw two zoo celebrities. Thane Maynard, the director of the zoo, was talking to some folks as we came in. Sitting two rows in front of us was Catheryn Hilker, who established the cheetah program, as well as the person who had the idea of zoos taking animals to schools. She’s one of the reasons we have cheetahs in the world today. I thought about saying “hi,” but got embarrassed, and didn’t.

I wanted to see the snow leopards. Renji was being a bit lazy.

What was really cool was they were giving Nubo a snack! We got to be relatively close to him, and watched him dine. He is an amazing cat–look at those paws!

“Cheeze!”

Nubo was in a very playful mood, pouncing at Renji, in a game of tag I’ve seen my cats play. The things she has to put up with!

What a gorgeous girl!

What about the Pallas’ kittens?

They were following their mom around.

So patient.

As is the ocelot mother, whose ocelittle was thought her tail was a great toy.

The bobcat watched us. Miss Lop-Ears the caracal wasn’t there…hope she was OK.

It was a great day, with great weather. I’m glad my mom got to spend my birthday with me and my family at the Cincinnati Zoo.

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Just when it looked like we’d go the whole month of March without getting out to the zoo, we had some of the best weather we’ve had in a while. The zoo also had some things going on for Easter. We caught the tail end of it, when cougars Joseph and Tecumseh were given melons to roll around.

I was playing with my camera, trying to use my manual focus in some of the darker enclosures, where it seems to struggle. One result was a decent shot of the fishing cat. They had put some fish in her enclosure to chase after.

I also got a picture of the black-footed cat at the far end of the enclosure.

The other one stood up top and judged me.U haz no skillz.

Miss Caracal, on the other hand, was posing, and looking gorgeous.

The Snow Leopard Trust was pointing out that snow leopard mating season has been going on. I have no official word, though I did want to check on Renji. She and Nubo, however, were having a cat-nap.

The Cincinnati Zoo is one of the leaders in the conservation of small cats. Sihil, pictured to the right, is the first ocelot born through a frozen embryo. She makes regular visits to the Ocelot Conservation Festival in South Texas.

The baby (whose sex hasn’t been published as of this writing) will be in the Night Hunter’s exhibit this spring. I suspect I’ll post a picture or two once that happens…assuming I can limit myself to that many.

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We went to the Cincinnati Zoo, in part so my daughter could participate in HallZOOween, their annual trick-or-treating at the zoo event. She went as a black cat.

However, there were two babies we wanted to see. First, Lulu was a baby giraffe born on October 12. She stayed in her stable, close to the wall. All we could see was her head.

We keep talking about how cute and tiny she is, even though she was taller than me when she was born. However, when she stands next to her mother, Tessa, you can tell. Again, she didn’t do that, but Tessa was in full view, having a snack.

The other baby we were interested in was Savanna, the cheetah. She’s been hanging out in the running yard prior to Cheetah Encounters. Such a pretty girl!

She chased her dog pal, Max.

Mostly, she did what cheetahs do best: she ran a bit.

Perhaps as inspiration, Nia, the second youngest cheetah in the Cat Ambassador program ran. She really embodies the grace and power of these animals.

Note the serious cheetah running form: head low and she’s starting to pin her ears back. Even captive cheetahs treat running after prey as serious business–even if the prey is just a fuzzy dog toy.

Chance did the second run.

This is the first year I’ve gotten to see Sihil, the occelot, in the Cheetah Encounter. Her climbing ability is amazing! Also, they have such lovely coats (though, at times, I think she’s wearing pajamas).

Cleo the serval shows how to get the last chip out of a Pringle can…somehow, I don’t think I can do it as well as she can.OK, Pringles aren’t enough justification for this adaptation. It’s actually how servals can reach into burrows for rodents.

Another pretty cat.Note the malor strips on the pumpkin (you can see these as the black stripes running from a cheetah’s eyes (near the notes) to the corner of the mouth. These function similar to the black pain football players put under their eyes to reduce glare. You can see them on Savanna below.

Minnow the fishing cat made an appearance.

And I still wonder why I can’t get Luna to do this:

We went to go say “hi” to the snow leopards. On the way, George, a six-month-old bat eared fox was taking a walk.

We also passed a ball’o’cougar.

Renji and Nubo were being quite playful. They also appeared to have secrets.

Renji is so pretty. Another photographer pointed out she has “Cleopatra” eye liner–I never noticed it before.